A master of the travel narrative, Paul Theroux—"the Somerset Maugham of our time" (Washington Post)—here weaves three connected novellas of Westerners transformed by their sojourns in India. A middle-aged couple on vacation veers heedlessly from idyll to chaos; a buttoned-down Boston lawyer finds succor in Mumbai's reeking slums; and a young woman befriends an elephant in Bangalore. Here too are Indians reflective of the country's subtle ironies: an executive who yearns to become a holy beggar, an earnest young striver whose personality is rewired by acquiring an American accent, and a miracle-working guru.